Don’t Shoot Yourself! is a quick, often frustrating little game in which the name says it all. You control a little ship (I guess) trapped inside of a series of shapes. Your main goal is to keep moving for until a number on the right side of the screen counts down to zero, and all the while your little guy is firing bullets all hither and thither. Your secondary goal is not to fly into any of those bullets.

If it sounds daunting, that’s because it is. But it’s still a game worth trying if only to see if you’re up to the challenge.

You have two sections of your screen in the game: On the left, your ship runs through its guantlet, and you fly around by dragging inside of a dedicated area on the right (southpaws can swap the two around in the options). This alone makes Don’t Shoot Yourself! an ingeniously designed title because it sidesteps the common issue of touch controls requiring you to obscure part of the screen and therefore block your view of what’s happening. And you need to see what’s happening because accuracy and reflexes are key, and you don’t need your fat thumb standing in the way of progress.

If it sounds daunting, that’s because it is.

The game includes nine levels and a “boss fight,” and you unlock them as you go by earning stars based on how long you manage to go unexploded. Each shape provides unique challenges; some provide more maneuvering room than others, and differently angled walls affect the behavior of your traitorous bullets.

So, it’s hard. It’s intense. It’s not for everyone, and you will often rage at the unfairness. But when you get it right, the payoff is huge.

Game Name: : Don’t Shoot Yourself!The Good: It makes you feel like Neo in that first bullet-dodging scene in The Matrix.The Bad: Remember that Neo gets shot in that scene. Also, at least one of the levels is invisble, and that’s just unfair.The Verdict: It’s so freaking hard, but I can’t stop playing it. So it’s either great, or I hate myself.Buy from:App Store